


A Time to Sulk

by mckinlily



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-08 21:32:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7774498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mckinlily/pseuds/mckinlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius is in a terrible mood, and an encounter with Lily Evans is not going to make him any better. </p>
<p>But when has fate ever been in his favor?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Time to Sulk

_Thunk!_

The dormitory door, which had been developed a habit of sticking shut since a wild game of indoor quidditch in the fourth year, burst open. Probably James come to tell him to cheer up. Behind the hanging of his bed, Sirius made an angry, growing noise intended to tell whomever it was that he was not in the mood for company.

“James? Are you --”

A feminine, very un-James-like voice broke off at the same time Sirius stopped mid-growl. He propped himself up on his elbow. “What’re _you_ doing here? This is the boys’ dorm!”

“I’m aware of that,” snapped Lily. “I’m looking for James.”

Sirius flopped back flat on his bed. “Lost your boyfriend, Evans?”

“He’s your best friend!” Lily stalked to the edge of Sirius’s bed, blocking his view of his bed hangings. “Where is he?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, what is wrong with you?”

“Nothing’s wrong with me.”

Lily was unimpressed. “You and James can hardly stand two minutes without each other, and you expect me to believe you don’t know where he is?”

“Well, I don’t,” growled Sirius. “He just left me here and didn’t tell me where he was going.”

“And with you in this wonderful mood, I can’t imagine why,” muttered Lily.

That hit a nerve. Sirius sat up and glared at her. “For the record, I _chose_ to stay here.”

“Oh?” said Lily.

“Yes,” said Sirius stiffly. “I didn’t want to go with them. I wanted to be alone. I was thinking. And…things.”

“Sulking?”

“No!”

“Pouting?”

“I was _not_ pouting!”

“So sulking then.”

Sirius growled and fell back across his bed, glaring sullenly at the ceiling. Only after that did he realize he had proven her right. “Prongs has absolutely no sympathy for sulking.”

Lily let out two short laughs. The mattress bent around Sirius’s feet; she had sat on the foot of his bed. Sirius sent her an unhappy glare, but Lily wasn’t looking at him. She was taking in the messy dormitory. “James hates sulking,” she said to his surprise.

“It makes him a monster when he is sulking,” agreed Sirius.

Lily nodded. “He likes being able to fix things. He wants to be able to _do_ something,” she said thoughtfully. “That’s what makes his mum being sick so hard on him. He can’t fix it. He can’t change anything. And he doesn’t know how to deal with that.”

Sirius sat up again. He blinked at her until Lily met his eyes with a quizzical gaze of her own. “You get him,” said Sirius.

Lily went a little pink. “Well, I mean,” she said after a moment. “I am his girlfriend. I should know some things.”

“Yeah but… You actually get him.”

Lily shrugged. “I just feel bad for him. It’s really hard on him, and --” she shrugged again. “You know.”

Sirius shrugged back. He didn’t look at her as he said, “He’ll be fine though. You’ll see.”

“But this is his mum! And sometimes he’s withdrawn and --”

“He’s been much worse,” said Sirius. “Trust me.” At Lily’s open mouth, he waved her words away. “Look, he’ll pull through whatever happens. He’s not even sulking. Just worrying.”

Lily pursed her lips. Shifting next to Sirius’s feet, her eyes traced the mini-disaster that was James’s bed. She looked back at Sirius. Her mouth twisted. “So if he’s really fine right now, what have you seen him sulking so badly about?”

“You,” said Sirius honestly and without thinking.

Lily blinked. A mixture of horror and greedy curiosity crossed her face. “He sulked about me?”

Sirius gave a grunt of assent.

“What-- When--? How was--?”

Sirius glared. “You mess him up again, and I will make you regret it, Evans.”

“Right.” Lily obsessively tucked her hair behind her ear. “I--That was insensitive--” She fingered the back of her hair. Finally, she managed a half-smile. “Don’t worry. I am perfectly aware that the Marauders can double as the Ex-Girlfriend Extermination Squad.”

“Don’t think we can’t,” said Sirius.

They sat in tense silence, Lily tugging at the ends of her hair and Sirius slouched over his knees, shaking his bangs out of his eyes every so often.

“He really cares about you,” Sirius forced out finally.

“I know that,” said Lily.

“But--”

“Sirius,” Lily pierced him with a glare. “You can’t be friends with James Potter and not know that he cares about you.”

Sirius opened his mouth, but he didn’t know what to say, so he just shut it again and nodded stiffly. He met Lily’s eyes again, and some sort of understanding flowed between them. The tension between them seemed to lessen.

“So…” said Lily after a minute. “What were you sulking about?”

Sirius scowled.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” said Lily. “A good sulk can be good for you.”

Sirius raised his eyebrows skeptically. “Really?”

“Sure,” said Lily. “It lets your release a lot of pent-up emotions. Like a good cry.”

"I am not a bleeding _girl_!”

“Right. So you sulk instead of cry. Much more manly.”

Sirius scowled, but Lily’s lips twitched. There was just the right mixture of concern and mockery as she said, “So…?”

“Just family stuff,” groaned Sirius. He sprawled out on his back again. “My brother’s decided to become a Death Eater because he likes to ruin his life. The usual. Not that any of that matters anyway. I don’t care. I’m not a part of that family.”

“Which would be really nice if saying that could make that true,” said Lily.

Sirius put his hands behind his head and crunched up a little to get a better look at her. “Why are you here anyway?”

“Oh, you know, just dumb stuff,” said Lily, nose wrinkling. “Drama in the girls’ dormitory. I was looking for James. Thought he could cheer me up.”

“Ah.” Sirius stared up, eyes tracing the scorched edge of his bedpost. When had that happened again?

“Yeah,” said Lily. “Imagine what James would say if he found both of us sulking together.”

“He’d absolutely hate it.”

Lily was quiet for a moment. Then, “Move over. If we’re going to sulk, it’s not fair for you to have the entire ceiling to yourself.”

Lily shoved Sirius’s legs to the side, and he squirmed out of the way as her feet came at his shoulder. After some maneuvering, they were sprawled, lethargic and sulking-like, across Sirius’s bed, feet next to each other’s heads and staring morosely at Sirius’s well-abused ceiling.

“My family sucks,” said Sirius.

“My friends are selfish.”

They didn’t try to cheer each other up, but they didn’t degrade each other’s problem’s either. And they didn’t compare. Sirius talked about his brother, his cousins. Lily grumbled about her friends. Sometimes she threw in something about her sister. He didn’t ask her for any clarifications, and she didn’t pry anything out of him. For long stretches of time, they didn’t say anything, instead just staring at the ceiling. Sulking. And Lily was right. It felt _good_.

* * *

 James Potter’s voice was heard long before he reached the door. “PADFOOT! Moony said you’ve been up here for hours, and if you think I’m just going to let you sit in there and sulk ¾” James’s voice cut out as he caught sight of his best friend and girlfriend sprawled out across his best friend’s bed.

Rapidly moving best friend and girlfriend. Sirius’s eye nearly collided with Lily’s foot as he jerked up and she sprang to her feet.

“Prongs--”

“James!”

"--it’s not what--”

“What were you doing?” said James in bewilderment.

Sirius’s face was guilt-ridden. “We were just…” He looked to Lily for help. For just a second, she looked worried, but then her eyes twinkled. She opened her mouth and said --

“Sulking.”

“Sulking?” said James while Sirius withheld a groan.

 “Yep,” said Lily.

 James looked from Lily to Sirius and then back again, mouth agape. His expression was slowly becoming horrified.

Lily nudged Sirius. “I think we broke him.”

“ _You_ broke him,” Sirius hissed back. “He’s been dealing with _me_ for years.”

“You’re sulking?” said James weakly. “ _Both_ of you?” And his expression looked so horrified, so full of dread, that Lily and Sirius did the only thing a good girlfriend and best friend could think of doing at that moment.

They burst out laughing.


End file.
